Occasional posts on anthropologically interesting science fiction, anthropological futures and my own future as an anthropologist.

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Tracking the conversation from Displacements

The joint SCA/SVA "Displacements" conference has come to an end (although the archived presentations will remain up until the end of the month). By all accounts, this virtual conference has been a success, but I wanted to probe the extent to which the conference brought together people across diverse locations. Although we have some sense of this from the "Nodes" (local groups of face-to-face meetings and events surrounding the conference), Twitter may be a more important index, since that social media emerged as the most generative form of communication over the past few days.

Using NodeXL, I downloaded tweets with the #displace18 hashtag, and grouped them by timezone. Here is the sociograph I generated:

And here's a key to the groups (which may help with some of the smaller ones in the lower, right-hand corner).

Pacific
Time (US & Canada)

0, 12, 96

Disk

Pacific
Time (US & Canada)

Eastern Time (US
& Canada)

0, 136,
227

Disk

Eastern
Time (US & Canada)

London

0, 100, 50

Disk

London

Central Time (US
& Canada)

0, 176, 22

Disk

Central Time (US &
Canada)

Atlantic Time
(Canada)

191, 0, 0

Disk

Atlantic Time (Canada)

Quito

230, 120,
0

Disk

Quito

Arizona

255, 191,
0

Disk

Arizona

Amsterdam

150, 200,
0

Disk

Amsterdam

Sydney

200, 0,
120

Disk

Sydney

New Delhi

77, 0, 96

Disk

New Delhi

Hawaii

91, 0, 191

Disk

Hawaii

Greenland

0, 98, 130

Disk

Greenland

Paris

0, 12, 96

Solid
Square

Paris

Istanbul

0, 136,
227

Solid
Square

Istanbul

Jakarta

0, 100, 50

Solid
Square

Jakarta

Wellington

0, 176, 22

Solid
Square

Wellington

Edinburgh

191, 0, 0

Solid
Square

Edinburgh

Chennai

230, 120,
0

Solid
Square

Chennai

Mexico City

255, 191,
0

Solid
Square

Mexico City

Berlin

150, 200,
0

Solid
Square

Berlin

Seoul

200, 0,
120

Solid
Square

Seoul

Tokyo

77, 0, 96

Solid
Square

Tokyo

Bogota

91, 0, 191

Solid
Square

Bogota

Casablanca

0, 98, 130

Solid
Square

Casablanca

Mountain Time (US
& Canada)

0, 12, 96

Solid
Diamond

Mountain Time (US &
Canada)

Alaska

0, 136,
227

Solid
Diamond

Alaska

Helsinki

0, 100, 50

Solid
Diamond

Helsinki

Brisbane

0, 176, 22

Solid
Diamond

Brisbane

Melbourne

191, 0, 0

Solid
Diamond

Melbourne

Ljubljana

230, 120,
0

Solid
Diamond

Ljubljana

Vienna

255, 191,
0

Solid
Diamond

Vienna

Athens

150, 200,
0

Solid
Diamond

Athens

Lima

200, 0,
120

Solid
Diamond

Lima

Taipei

77, 0, 96

Solid
Diamond

Taipei

Dublin

91, 0, 191

Solid
Diamond

Dublin

Singapore

0, 98, 130

Solid
Diamond

Singapore

Beijing

0, 12, 96

Solid
Triangle

Beijing

Stockholm

0, 136,
227

Solid
Triangle

Stockholm

Tijuana

0, 100, 50

Solid
Triangle

Tijuana

International Date
Line West

0, 176, 22

Solid
Triangle

International Date Line
West

Brussels

191, 0, 0

Solid
Triangle

Brussels

Muscat

230, 120,
0

Solid
Triangle

Muscat

Tehran

255, 191,
0

Solid
Triangle

Tehran

America/Los_Angeles

150, 200,
0

Solid
Triangle

America/Los_Angeles

Europe/Brussels

200, 0,
120

Solid
Triangle

Europe/Brussels

America/Montreal

77, 0, 96

Solid
Triangle

America/Montreal

Nairobi

91, 0, 191

Solid
Triangle

Nairobi

Buenos Aires

0, 98, 130

Solid
Triangle

Buenos Aires

Santiago

0, 12, 96

Sphere

Santiago

Perth

0, 136,
227

Sphere

Perth

Hong Kong

0, 100, 50

Sphere

Hong Kong

Brasilia

0, 176, 22

Sphere

Brasilia

Mumbai

191, 0, 0

Sphere

Mumbai

Pretoria

230, 120,
0

Sphere

Pretoria

Bangkok

255, 191,
0

Sphere

Bangkok

Midway Island

150, 200,
0

Sphere

Midway Island

America/Belem

200, 0,
120

Sphere

America/Belem

Bern

77, 0, 96

Sphere

Bern

UTC

91, 0, 191

Sphere

UTC

America/New_York

0, 98, 130

Sphere

America/New_York

Abu Dhabi

0, 12, 96

Circle

Abu Dhabi

Europe/Amsterdam

0, 136,
227

Circle

Europe/Amsterdam

Irkutsk

0, 100, 50

Circle

Irkutsk

Asia/Singapore

0, 176, 22

Circle

Asia/Singapore

La Paz

191, 0, 0

Circle

La Paz

Madrid

230, 120,
0

Circle

Madrid

Prague

255, 191,
0

Circle

Prague

Europe/Rome

150, 200,
0

Circle

Europe/Rome

What we can see here is some significant traffic between different zones, particularly (but not exclusively) between North America and Europe. Traffic is generally in the form of re-tweets. I was pleased to see the lively Quito node!

I'm still processing my thoughts about the conference, but I am steadfast in my belief that this represents a real alternative to the disciplinary mega-conference.